From Taipei to Laoag—in the middle of a storm

WE WERE having an eat-all-you-can lunch at a nearby Korean barbecue place (“Arariyo” at the Q Plaza in Cainta) when my brother Fr. Boboy Jimenez, SVD, received a call from PAL informing him that his flight that evening to Laoag had been cancelled due to Tropical Storm “Egay.”

Since Father Boboy had flown to Manila only to preside at the baptism of our grandson Lucas Anakin, we felt responsible for his wellbeing as our guest. But this was no biggie, since PAL readily rebooked him for a flight the next day. However, on the way to Paco, where our son’s family is staying at the moment with Kin’s maternal grandparents, Father Boboy received a frantic phone call from his “confrere,” Fr. Oscar Alunday, SVD. Father “Osky,” whom we knew since he hosted us on a visit to his then parish in Mayoyao, Ifugao, many years ago, was frantic about a group of a dozen visiting Taiwanese students and teachers.

Like Father Boboy, the Taiwanese group was scheduled to take a flight from Manila to Laoag that day, via Cebu Pacific, but they were told on arrival here that their flight north had to be cancelled due to the storm. The Taiwanese delegation from Fu Jen University in Taipei, administered by the Divine Word fathers, had been booked on a Taipei-Manila-Laoag flight, and in fact their luggage had to be offloaded at the Naia Terminal 3 because their flight connection had been cancelled. When they asked when they could fly to Laoag, they were told that they would have to wait until Wednesday, or two days hence, because there was not enough room on other flights.

Put yourselves in the shoes of the visiting Taiwanese. Save for two teachers, none of them spoke or understood English (much less Filipino). Plus, they were traveling on a tight budget as part of their “exposure” trip. To make matters worse, Father Osky was in San Fernando, La Union, planning to meet the group in Laoag after he was done with all his Mass assignments that Sunday.

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FATHER OSKY had sent a nephew to assist the group (who had departed Taipei early in the morning for Manila), but they still faced a quandary because they still didn’t know where to put up the group and how to transport them there, even if they could afford to stay at a hotel or hostel.

My husband and I accompanied Father Boboy to Terminal 3 to speak with the Taiwanese visitors, who were going to stay at the hostel of the Divine Word College of Laoag, of which Father Boboy is the president. Father Osky’s nephew was still caught in horrendous traffic, but fortunately we spotted the group almost at once because they were all clad in uniform dark blue T-shirts proclaiming their affiliation with Fu Jen University.

By phone and through consultations with the leaders of the group, an arrangement was arrived at: The Taiwanese visitors would be transported to the nearby Partas bus station in Pasay where they were to take a bus trip to San Fernando, where Father Osky would wait for them, give them accommodations for the night, and then travel with them to Laoag.

Father Boboy and I dropped by the Cebu Pacific counter to request for a shuttle bus (or cabs) to take the Taiwanese to Partas, since we felt the airline should take some responsibility for the welfare of the group. At the counter, we were told by Cebu Pacific staff that “it is not our responsibility” because the flight cancellation was due to “an act of God,” the storm.

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SURE, the staff may have been right—legally and by their rules—but weren’t they even in the least concerned about the plight of a big group of passengers who had been effectively stranded in Manila? When we asked about the possibility of the group receiving refunds for the aborted Manila-Laoag leg to at least cover their expenses here, the staff shrugged and said that they weren’t allowed to deal with refunds and that usually refunds for such eventualities would take “a long time” to settle.

In the meantime, the 12 Taiwanese had been caught in the airport for much of the day, and if they were to make the estimated six-hour trip to San Fernando, they would need to be fed first.

We found a small eatery in the fast-food section of Terminal 3 and when we asked them what they wanted to eat, a teacher said she preferred them to taste “traditional Filipino food,” which meant, for many, rice and adobo, although an adventurous few opted for dinuguan (pork blood stew)!

The students, after all, were visiting the country on an “exposure” trip not just to find out all they could about Philippine culture and history, but also to discover their ties with indigenous communities here. Almost all of them, it seems, belonged to indigenous communities in Taiwan. The Cordilleras was of particular interest to them because it’s said Cordilleran tribes have very close ties—culturally and genetically—with mountain tribes in Taiwan.

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ALREADY, they had been scheduled to meet with various communities in the mountain barangays of Ilocos Norte and Abra, and were staying a few days in Banaue to meet with other indigenous communities apart from taking in the sights of the rice terraces.

Among their luggage, we found costumes and props—authentic-looking swords and spears, for instance—to be used apparently in performances they would stage for the school groups and communities they would meet.

The good news is that, after we said our goodbyes at the Partas bus station (the group ended up renting a van at the airport, at discounted rates), our Taiwanese visitors arrived safe and sound in San Fernando and met with Father Osky. As I write this, they are apparently on their way to Laoag and Father Boboy is to meet them there. More fun in the Philippines?